The present invention relates to a cloth evaluation apparatus, and more particularly relates to a cloth evaluation apparatus for measuring and evaluating the piercing property and the cutting property with respect to a cloth in order to preliminary know the suitability in mounting a button or an eyelet onto various cloths using a mounting member.
When a button, an eyelet or the like (hereinafter referred to as merely “button”) is mounted onto a cloth of clothing etc., a sharp part of a mounting member is passed through the cloth and then is plastically deformed on the button. More particularly, after the button is held by an upper die above the cloth as is horizontally placed, and the mounting member is set on a lower die below the cloth, the upper die is lowered by operating a press machine. Thereby, the sharp part of the mounting member pierces the cloth upward and then is swaged on the button by the upper die (a punch thereof). As a result, the button is fixed to the cloth. If a button is mounted to a certain cloth using an unsuitable mounting member, mounting defects such that the button easily comes off the cloth would be caused. Therefore, conventionally, the suitability or the unsuitability of a mounting member or a combination of a button and a mounting member with respect to a cloth is determined by preliminary knowing the cloth thickness at the time of applying a predetermined pressure to the cloth by using a cloth thickness measuring apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2989589.
However, even though a combination of a cloth and a mounting member (and a button) is judged to be suitable on the basis of the cloth thickness under a predetermined pressure, it is known that mounting defects with the button would be caused. This is mainly relevant to the material, weaving, knitting, overlapping, etc. of a cloth and how a sharp part of a mounting member passes through the cloth (a cloth passing-through manner). As cloth passing-through manners of a sharp part of a mounting member, generally there are a) “piercing,” where the tip of a sharp part sticks a point on the cloth and then the sharp part expands a grain of the cloth while piercing the cloth, and b) “cutting,” where a tip face of a sharp part pushes a part of the cloth in the passing direction and then separate or cut the part from the cloth. The piercing property with a cloth when a sharp part of a mounting member is “piercing” the cloth or a force for piercing the cloth, or the cutting property with a cloth when a sharp part is “cutting” the cloth or a force for passing through the cloth can vary depending on the material, weaving, knitting, overlapping, etc. of a cloth even if the thickness of each cloth under a predetermined pressure is same. This is seemed to influence a mounting property of a button.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 2989589